Gallus to retire in blow to Howard

Chris Gallus, veteran Liberal backbencher and parliamentary secretary to the Foreign Minister, yesterday told Prime Minister John Howard she would not contest this year's election.

Ms Gallus, 60, is member for the highly marginal South Australian seat of Hindmarsh, holding a 1 per cent majority.

Her decision is a blow for the Government because it is easier for a well-known incumbent to hold a close seat. But she said she believed Hindmarsh was stronger for the Liberals than the numbers suggested. An area that had come into it from the latest redistribution was potentially good Coalition territory - it had just not had a Liberal member.

Ms Gallus indicated to Mr Howard late last year that she might not stand again and he asked her to reconsider.

She went ahead with her preselection but confirmed yesterday that she had not been persuaded to stay on. She said had an increasing burden of family business interests to look after because her father was 83. The work took a great deal of her weekends.

She also thought her seat needed someone younger who wanted to work the required 16 hours a day and to spend time in the "boarding school" of Parliament.

Ms Gallus has been in Parliament since 1990, when she won the seat of Hawker from Labor by 14 votes. She moved to Hindmarsh after Hawker was abolished in a redistribution in her first term. She also won Hindmarsh from Labor. She has been one of the moderates in the Liberal party.